The Accounting Office of the Mepe St. Kizito Senior High Technical School (MSHTS) in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region has been rocked by massive acts of corruption, and abuse of accounting and procurement processes to the benefit of some top officials of the school.
Information reaching Today coupled with a letter to all stakeholders and management of MSHTS by members of the Mepe St. Kizito Old Students and Association (MESKOSA), indicate that the continuous refusal of the Accountant of the school, Mr. Paul-Ray Kudese, to comply with a transfer directive by the Ghana Education Service (GES) is creating confusion in the school.
And per this GES directive, Mr Kudese has been transferred from MSHTS to the Anloga Zion College, in the same region
The letter by MESKOSA was written after a resolution was passed at an emergency meeting of MESKOSA held on August 25, 2018, which invoked the intervention of the media and stakeholders regarding the above subject.
The two-page letter, signed by the Acting President of the National Executive Committee of MESKOSA, Mr. Cornelius Tse Gakpetor, states that since assuming the position of MSHTS accountant some six years ago, Mr. Kudese has been transferred at least twice by GES over breaches of some procurement and accounting regulations.
In the wake of that, the letter made it clear that Mr. Kudease has remained defiant and showed no sign of compliance.
According to the letter, Mr. Kudese, who refuses transfer with impunity, pays his way out and makes it impossible for the new Accountant, Mr. Amos Gborglah who is posted by GES to replace him to assume office.
The letter indicated that his latest transfer came in February this year, but he blatantly refused to comply, thereby making his replacement that is on regular salary idle at home.
“…for about four months now the new Accountant (Bursar), Mr. Amos Gborglah, who has been transferred from Three King Special School at Battor Traditional Area by the GES to the MSHTS to replace Mr. Kudese has strangely ceased reporting to duty. While we await his resumption, our checks clearly revealed that Mr. Kudese has refused to hand over to him.
“We are at a loss why Mr. Kudese who was rejected by the community and transferred to Anloga Zion College was allowed to stay at the Cristal Hotel at Mafi-Addome at the expense of the school to still operate the accounts of the Mepe St. Kizito Senior High Technical School and would not hand over to the new Accountant (Bursar,” the letter stated.
It noted that Mr. Kudese was posted to the Volta Regional office of the GES, then to Three Town Senior High, Anloga Zion College and later to Comboni Technical and Vocational Institute at Sogakope in the Central Tongu District.
But For some bizarre reasons, the letter said Mr. Kudese turned down each of these offers by GES.
According to the letter, the audacity with which he defies the transfer directives of the GES casts doubts on the integrity of the service and the seriousness of its directives.
“As at today, Mr. Kudese has not returned a water metre he clandestinely misappropriated and relocated from the school’s boy’s dormitory to his rented house in town, as the school keeps paying the bills,” the letter alleged.
The letter disclosed that he single-handedly awarded the SIP-funded school fence wall project on the blindside of the school’s procurement committee and the board of governors without tender and in breaches of the procurement regulations.
Furthermore, the letter stated that Mr. Kudese was yet to account to the board of governors of the school on the school’s 25th Anniversary celebrations that took place four years ago and all committees set up to plan the event stand dissolved till date.
“In fact, he has never presented any income and expenditure account to the board since assuming office as school accountant,” it alleged.
For Mepe St. Kizito to be rescued and placed back on the path of progress, the letter appealed to the media and the stakeholders in education to force Mr. Kudese together with his allies to abide by the GES transfer directives.
The letter warned Mr. Kudese to cease being a signatory to the bank accounts of Mepe St Kizito, stop performing financial transactions for and on behalf of the school and handover to the new accountant, Amos Gborglah with urgent promptitude.
The letter also called for a forensic audit to be performed on the accounts of the school covering the tenure of Mr. Kudese.
When contacted by Today via telephone on Wednesday August 29, 2018, the new Accountant posted to the school, Mr. Amos Gborglah noted that he was transferred to the school on April 2018, but due to the persistent refusal of Mr. Kudese to hand over to him, “I am still hanging around the school without doing anything.”
“Though l report to the school every school hour to work on the accounting records of the school, Mr. Kudese has failed to hand the mantle to me and l even don’t have an office,” Mr. Gborglah noted.
In an interview with Today, the Headmaster of the school, Mr. Dey Abraham, noted that the issue of the community fighting Mr. Kudese for not abiding by the transfer directives of the GES and his involvement of financial and procurement irregularities have been there longtime before he was posted from the Oti Senior High School at Dambai to MSHTS in July this year.
“My brother, l came to meet these issues so lam working closely with the Volta Regional, North Tongu District Directorates of GES, MESKOSA, chiefs and stakeholders of the school to resolve the transfer and other pressing issues affecting the school,” Mr. Abraham stressed.
He therefore called on members of MESKOSA to exercise restraint since he was putting measures in place to correct the anomalies at the school.
Meanwhile, when Today reached Mr. Kudese via telephone on the issue, he simply said: “ln the first place, l want to tell you [referring to this reporter] that l am not supposed to speak to the media on this issue.”
He continued that “So when l seek approval from the North Tongu District Director of the Ghana Education Service, Mrs. Roda Abiba Ayittey and my Headmaster of Mepe St. Kizito Senior High Technical School, Mr. Dey Abraham and they tell me that l should talk to the media over the issue then l will call you to speak to you.”
Story: From Freeman KORYEKPOR AWLESU, MEPE, VOLTA REGION
Writer’s email: freeman.koryekpor@todaygh.com